Protest organisers: Bertie, Guards have "lost the plot"

dublin | summit mobilisations | press release Tuesday April 27, 2004 11:40 by Dublin Grassroots Network

Dublin Grassroots Network, who are organising a May Day weekend of
events for an alternative Europe, today said that recent comments by
politicians and gardai indicated that they had "lost the plot" completely
and were saying the first thing that came into their heads.

Spokesperson Laurence Cox said that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's
comments that protesters were "misguided hooligans" was an insult to
the thousands of Irish people who are expected to take part in
the weekend's events. "Clearly Bertie is a bit out of touch with his own
constituents, maybe because he's trying so hard to impress mass killers
like Tony Blair and Silvio Berlusconi."

Recent garda comments that protests may be infiltrated by anarchists
were greeted with derision. "After Aileen O' Carroll's appearance on the
Late Late Show the whole world knows what an anarchist looks like,"
said Cox. "The only people infiltrating us are plain-clothes detectives."

Liz Curry, another spokesperson for the network, commented, "Security
consultants and journalists have recently admitted that there could be as
few as 30 or 50 "Wombles" coming from London. The Wombles are a
peaceful group whose hallmark is wearing padding to protect
themselves from police violence. What is going on that the Government
is calling out 5,000 gardai?"

GRA general secretary PJ Stone recently commented that most of the
protestors from Genoa were expected in Ireland. Pointing out that there
were a quarter of a million protestors at Genoa, the organisers of this
weekend's events have cited his comments as another example of
politicians and gardai saying the first thing that came into their heads
instead of stopping to think about what they were saying.

Curry called for any security presence to be low-key and calm in order
to ensure that there is no tension.